Poverty Under the Microscope

Once the rage, scientific approaches to development economics now encounter skeptics

By Beth McMurtrie

June 09, 2014 Alissa Fishbane
A randomized study in Kenya found that children who received deworming treatments, to counter widespread parasitic infections, were likelier to stay in school and, as adults, to have higher earnings.

During the past two decades, something unexpected happened in the field of development economics. Researchers got out from behind their desks to figure out why, after billions of dollars had been spent on foreign aid, so many poor people were no less...

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